Introduction To Pointillism

History of Pointillism

The year 1886 saw many amazing changes: the first shipment of oranges was sent from Los Angeles via the Transcontinental Railroad; Wilhelm Steinitz became the first recognized World Chess Champion; the Haymarket Riot earned Americans an 8-hour workday; the gramophone and Coca-Cola were invented; and the new art form sweeping the world was called pointillism.

In 1886, what the art world knew of painting, which was basically classical painting up to that point, was challenged when Georges Seurat, a French painter, decided to step outside the box. Instead of using fluid movements and sweeps of the paintbrush, Seurat began creating images from hundreds and thousands of dots.

Despite acceptance of pointillism in modern times, it didn't start out that way. Pointillism and pointillists were seen as jokes in the upper-crust world of art at the time. The term itself was used to ridicule the artwork, as well as the artists, but when it began to catch on amongst the masses, the name stuck. Other terms for pointillism are Neo-impressionism (pointillism is based on impressionism), and Divisionism / Chromoluminarism (upon which impressionism is based; namely, the separation of colors into dots.)

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

— Vincent van Gogh

Pixellation | Source

Color Wheel | Source

Technique

The classical pointillists used pure primary colors, unmixed on a palate; thus, pointillist works are often vibrant and colorful. In the classical form, tiny dots of primary colors are arranged close together, which then generate secondary colors. The human eye interprets and blends these to give a full picture.

One easy way to picture this is to think of the pixellation of images on your computer and television. When zoomed in, computer images pixellate; that is, it becomes obvious that the image is made of thousands of little pixels (dots), and your eyes have blended them into one single image (see image at right.)

I suppose you could also picture a dot or pixel as something akin to an atom. Atoms make up our bodies and every object that we see, but we see most things as solid images and solid objects. Pixellation and Pointillism use the same idea to trick us into seeing what's not really there.

In addition to forming images from tiny dots, pointillism uses separate colors in close proximity to make an overall impression of the color they want to portray. For example, think of how the Red, Green, and Blue color scale we learned about as kids allows us to blend seemingly very different colors into a wide range of nuanced colors. Red + Blue = Purple; depending on how much red or how much blue is used, the end result might tend more to magenta, mauve, periwinkle, or fuchsia as the end result.

Art is harmony. Harmony is the analogy of contrary and of similar elements of tone, of color and of line, conditioned by the dominate key, and under the influence of a particular light, in gay, calm, or sad combinations.

— Georges Seurat

Modern Pointillists

Artist

Work

Website

Andy Diaz

Deconstructs his own digital photographs and painstakingly reassembles the original image in a mosaic of gelatin pill capsules, each containing small portions from several original prints.

andydiazhope.com

Ben Heine

Uses large, single dots of varying sizes, giving a new twist to pointillism.

www.benheine.com

Christian Faur

Uses hand cast crayons to create pointillism images, often based on photographs.

www.christianfaur.com

Angelo Franco

Uses finger painting and other techniques to create amazingly beautiful modern pointillist works.

www.angelofranco.com

Chris Jordan

Uses junk like plastic bottles, pop cans, and other garbage to create pointillism images that bring waste and mass consumption to the public via artwork.

www.chrisjordan.com

Chuck Close

Though he specializes in photorealism, he has also done some amazing pointillist works.

"Gyre," Chris Jordan, 2009 (Depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world's oceans every hour. All of the plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean.) | Source

"Gyre" Close-up, Chris Jordan, 2009 (Depicts some of the millions of pieces of plastic seen in the image above.) | Source

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.

I prefer:

Pointillist Quotations

"The anarchist painter is not the one who will create anarchist pictures, but the one who will fight with all his individuality against official conventions." -- Paul Signac

"If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things." -- Vincent van Gogh

"Art is a creation of a higher order than a copy of nature which is governed by chance. By the elimination of all muddy colors, by the exclusive use of optical mixture of pure colors, by a methodical divisionism and a strict observation of the scientific theory of colors, the neo-impressionists insures a maximum of luminosity, of color intensity, and of harmony- a result that has never yet been obtained." -- Paul Signac

"I remember that, although I was full of fervour, I didn't have the slightest inkling, even at forty, of the deeper side to the movement we were pursuing by instinct. It was in the air!" -- Camille Pissarro

"Painting is the art of hollowing a surface." -- Georges Seurat

"Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself forcibly." -- Vincent van Gogh

“Some say they see poetry in my paintings; I see only science.” -- Georges Seurat

Comments

No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sending

Allison Loker 3 years agofrom Brooklyn

Great hub! Your research is spot on and makes for a great read. Thank you so much!

Angelo Franco 5 years ago

Thank You for including my name and my artworks as a modern pointillistic artist, I don't deserve to be with the giants in art.

Very informative blog!

Paradise7 5 years agofrom Upstate New York

Terrific! I really enjoyed this and learned a lot. Thank you!

Vanderleelie 5 years ago

An interesting overview of pointillism in historical and contemporary art. Seurat's use of this technique resulted from reading books on colour theory and perception that outlined how the eye sees. He studied new discoveries in science, described in works by Michel Chevreul, Ogden Rood and Charles Henry, and applied those theories to painting. Seurat's invention of pointillist technique was not just a personal aesthetic choice, it was the outcome of experimenting with mid-19th century science.

Author

Faceless39 5 years agofrom The North Woods, USA

Hi there ib,

Instead of using fluid movements and sweeps of the paintbrush, Seurat began creating images from hundreds and thousands of dots. While pointillism can be very impressionistic, it uses dots rather than fluid strokes. That's the difference!

ib radmasters 5 years agofrom Southern California

What is the difference between pointillism and impressionism?

The former is more the way the computer printers, and monitors form images.

Thanks

Author

Faceless39 5 years agofrom The North Woods, USA

@SopranoRocks, I know the feeling, but tend to prefer the smaller cities anyway (I love rambling through untrodden forests and picnicking by lonely rivers.) Big cities to me are to be driven to on day trips or weekends. Though there's definitely something to be said about "big city" museums!

@Sueswan, thank so much, I'm really glad you found it fascinating. I learned a lot myself while researching this hub. Have a great day/evening as well!

@Claudia, thanks so much for deeming this hub worthy of linkage; I appreciate it. Your hub sounds really interesting.. I'll have to check it out!

Claudia Tello 5 years agofrom Mexico

I was looking for some nice Hubs to link to my recently published article "Impressionism: Mexican vs European Impressionist Art" and I found this one: a very good, high quality Hub. I hope you don’t mind me linking it and thank you for enabling me to use this tool.

Sueswan 5 years ago

Hi Faceless39

A very interesting and fascinating read.

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." -- Vincent van Gogh

This is so true.

Voted up and away

Have a good evening. :)

SopranoRocks 6 years agofrom Upper Peninsula, Michigan, USA

Fabulous thx! Of course in all cases, art is better seen in person but your images really make me want to go see them all. The great works are a must see. Living in a small middle-of-nowhere town, I miss the easy access to magnificent museums. Love the added scale photo =)

Author

Faceless39 6 years agofrom The North Woods, USA

@SopranoRocks, I've added an image to show the scale of "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" -- thanks for the idea.

@Ruchira, thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed learning about pointillism!

Ruchira 6 years agofrom United States

Wow..I wish I was an artist.

This hub was so informative yet beautiful.

But, thanks for enlightening me on the above

voted up as useful

Author

Faceless39 6 years agofrom The North Woods, USA

Thank you for all of the great feedback!

Yes, SopranoRocks, some of these paintings are absolutely enormous. Maybe I'll look around to see if I can't find a good example to show that. As you say, "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" covers a large wall!

It really is an intriguing movement in the art world. What also appeals to me is that they were basically rebels. I respect that!

SopranoRocks 6 years agofrom Upper Peninsula, Michigan, USA

Georges Seurat created one of my favorite paintings, which you have shown in this very informational and throughout HUB. I was fortunate enough to view the real A Sunday on La Grande Jatte at the Art Institute of Chicago and bought a smaller version and a mug from the gift shop. The original is breathtaking and you can spend an hour viewing it up close and far to see the intricacies of each dot. Plus is it huge! A whole wall is covered by this painting. I was an art major at Chicago's DePaul University but first saw this painting on the movie Ferris Beuller's Day Off. This HUB is th most informative writings I have seen online about Pointillism, which is great because not enough people know of it and how painstakingly talented the classic pointillists were!

mvaivata 6 years ago

This style seems so fantastically laborious, making it all the more amazing. Thank you for this fascinating hub!

Rebecca Mealey 6 years agofrom Northeastern Georgia, USA

I have learned something new about an art technique and I totally love it. Those dots made even with the end of a brush? A new wave of art. So cool!

Dbro 6 years agofrom Texas, USA

What an interesting and informative piece! I appreciate all the supporting information and images you provided here. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us!